The present invention relates to the general field of routing agents from call centers and in particular to a system for optimally routing such agents.
The present invention comprises a system for routing a call or other communication to a best available individual, such as a call center agent, customer service representative, and the like, who has a certain relationship with a caller, such as, for example, a physical proximity between the individual and the caller.
Currently, many businesses utilize call centers, each with multiple agents, to provide customer service. Typically, businesses employ multiple physical call centers to enable around-the-clock call handling and to utilize cheaper labor markets. Current call center applications enable call routing by a number of methods including time-of-day (TOD), agent availability, caller location and agent skill-set. In some cases, these methods can be combined to form a routing plan. There are limitations to this approach however, including the need to group agents at certain physical locations and the strict prioritization of one routing method over another. These limitations may result in a customer who is not very comfortable with his agent due to accent, lack of local knowledge, etc.
Therefore, what is needed to overcome the aforementioned limitations, is a call center system or a system utilized by an agent based at a residence or other non-call center location, in which agents are geographically dispersed and wherein calls are routed based on agent skill-set, agent location and/or caller location, that results in call delivery to a best available agent, while allowing a certain preference towards agents who are geographically closer to the caller.